Disappearing bed



Feb; 24, 1925.-

E. E. ROBB ET AL DISAPPEARING BED Filed Aug. 4, 192.;

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 M5 m m. a m M a 3 d? P 6 a. i/ M m Patented Feb. 24,1925.

UNITED STATES 1,527,919 PATENT OFFICE.

EUGENE EARL ROBB AND WILLIAM SAMUEL POINDEXTER, DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

DISAPPEARING 'Bnn.

Application filed August 4, 1923;

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that'we, EUGENE EARL Rose and.WILLIAM SAMUEL PoINDExTER, citizens of the United States, residing atDetroit, in the county of Wayne and State of hlichigan, have inventednew and useful Improvements in Disappearing Beds, of-whichthe follow'ing is a'specification;

This invention relates 7 to beds, particularly those of the folding ordisappearing type, and has for its object the provision of a novel bedstructure so constructed and arranged as to be foldedup into and storedaway Within a cabinet or closet so as to be entirely concealed from Viewwhen not in use and consequently not mar the appearance of a room whenused for purposes other than a bed room, an additional feature ofadvantage being that it is entirely out of the way soas to leave themaximum space for use for other purposes.

An important and more specific object is the provision of a bedstructure and a peculiar mounting therefor which will permit the bed tobe readily extended for service or folded into its enclosing cabinetorother compartment without'involving any great expenditure of time orlabor. An additional object is the provision of a bed of this characterwhich will be simple and inexpensive in manufacture and installation,highlyelficient in service, and a general improvement in the art.

With the above and other objects and advantages in view,'the inventionconsists in the combination and arrangement of parts to be hereinaftermore fully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings in which vFigure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section through abed constructed in accordance with our invention and also through theenclosing cabinet, this view showing the bed in extended or operativeposition.

Figure 2 is a similar view showing the bed folded up into the cabinetFigure 3 is a detail section on the line 3-3 of Figure '1.

Figure 4 is a 44 of Figure 1.

Figure 5, is a detail view showing the mounting for one of the braces,the view being taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a horizontal section through the cabinet, showing a planview of the bed.

detail section on the line Serial No. 655,647. 1

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the; numeral '10 designatesa cabinet which might be built in wardrobe style or which might be acloset forming a permanent part of a house, this detail being absolutelyimmaterial. It is intended that the. cabinet or closet be equipped witha suitable door 11 for closing the front thereof when use of the bedcontained within the cabinet is not desired. Mounted within the cabinetand suitably secured upon the side walls thereof are brackets designatedbroadly by the numeral 12, each of which includes an upstanding frame 13formed at its upper portion with a substantially semicircular slot 14 atthe edges of which are overhanging flanges 15. In connection with thesestationary brackets we provide an op erating structure which includes anelongated carrier iron or bar 16 at each side of the closet or cabinet,which carrier iron has secured thereto a bracket 'or plate 17 from whichprojects a: stud or trunnion 18 having journaled thereon a roller 19which travels within the slot 14. At the end of this stud is a retainingblock 20 which fits within the bracket behind or beneath the overhangingflanges 15 thereof'so asto be retained in place thereby while beingcapable'of'sliding movement. 'Pivotally connected at 21 with eachcarrier iron is an inclined brace bar 22 which is pivoted at 23 upon thelower portion of the adjacent or associated bracket 12. J ournaled atspaced points along the carrier irons, as shown at 24, are rollers 25which project above the upper surface through suitable slots. While itis not absolutely necessary, the ends of the carrier irons within thecabinet are preferably connected by a cross bar 26 which strengthens thesame.

The bed proper includes a pair of channel irons or bars 27 upon whichare suitably secured head and foot members 28 which are preferably ofthe open construction shown and which in actual practice might be tubingof any desired cross section,it being well known that such material isdurable and rigid yet light. The outer ends of these bars 27 areconnected bya cross bar 29 which will prevent them from movement towardor from each other. These channel iron bars 27 are slidably engaged uponand substantially enclose the carrier irons 16, the upper flanges ridingupon the rollers 25 so that the bed proper will be capable of slidingmovement upon these rollers toward or from the back of the closet orcabinet. As illustrated, the bars 27 are of substantially U- shape incross section with their lower edges extended under the lower edges ofthe carrier irons 16 which are likewise of inverted U-shape incross-section, these lower edges of the channel irons 27 beingrepresented by the numeral 30 and operating to prevent separation of thechannel irons 27 and 16. At a point comparatively near the brackets 12,the outer flanges of the channel irons 2'? must be cut away, asindicated at 31, so as not to interfere with the movement of the carrierirons with respect to the brackets 12. It is of course apparent that thetwo channel bars 27 may have a spring structure mounted thereon or mayhave the springs connected directly therewith. The spring structure isindicated by the numeral 32.

To support the outer corners of the bed proper, we provide a pair oflegs 33, one for each corner, which legs may be of any desired specificconstruction but pivotally mounted at 34: within the channel bars 27.The shape of the pivoted ends of the legs is such that they cannot swingoutwardly beyond a vertical position shown in Figure 1, the legs havingshoulders 35 which preventsuch swinging.

In Figure 2 the bed is shown as entirely contained within the cabinet orcloset. To render it ready for use, the door 11 must be opened, afterwhich the operator may grasp the rails 28 and swing the bed outwardlyand downwardly with respect to the cabinet into the horizontal positionshown in Figure 1. During this swinging movement the blocks 20 ridewithin the curved track-like brackets the rollers 19 traveling in theslots 14 until the blocks 20 engage against the'upper ends of the slots.Upon reaching this position the braces 22 will operate to effect apartial supporting action. The bed proper is then slid along the carrierirons 16 until it pro iects the desired or proper distance away from thefront of the cabinet or closet, the rollers 25 facilitating the action.The legs 33 are swung downwardly into vertical position, as shown, untilthey engage the floor or other surface and support the free corners ofthe bed. The reverse operation of folding the bed into the enclosingcabinet is very simply effected and requires no particular skill, timeor labor.

From the foregoing description and a study of the drawings it will beapparent that we have thus provided a simple and consequentlyinexpensive disappearing or folding bed structure which may be readilydisposed within a suitable enclosure when use is not desired and whichis easily extensible for active service. Owing to the fewness of theparts it is apparent that there is very little to get out of order sothat the device should have a long life and satisfactorily perform allof its functions.

While we have shown and described the preferred embodiment of ourinvention, it is of course to be understood that we reserve the right tomake such changes in the form, construction and arrangement of parts aswill not depart from the spirit of the invention or the scope of thesubjoined claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Let t ers Patent, is:

1. In a folding bed structure, the combination with an enclosingcabinet, of upright brackets mounted within the cabinet at the sidesthereof, said brackets being formed with substantially semi-circularslots having overhanging flanges, a frame including side bars carryingrollers operating within said slots, brace arms pivotally connected withthe brackets and'wit-h said frame bars, channel bars slidably engagedupon said first named bars and carrying end rails, and supporting legspivotally connected with said second named bars, said first named barsbeing of inverted U-shape in cross section, and said second named barsbeing of substantially inverted U-shape with one side longer than theother and terminating in an inwardly directed flange engaged beneath oneside of the first named bars.

2. In a folding bed structure, the combination with an enclosingcabinet, of upright brackets mounted within the cabinet at the sidesthereof, said brackets being formed with substantially semi-circularslots having overhanging flanges, a frame including side bars carryingrollers operating within said slots, brace arms pivotally connected withthe brackets and with said frame bars, channel bars slidably engagedupon said first named bars and carrying end rails, and supporting legspivotally connected with said second named bars, said first named barsbeing of inverted U-shape in cross section, and said second named barsbeing of substantially inverted U-shape with one side longer than theother and terminating in an inwardly directed flange engaged beneath oneside of the first named bars, said first named bars being formed withspaced openings, and rollers journaled within the first named bars,projecting through said openings and supporting the second named bars.

In testimony whereof we afiix our signatures.

EUGENE EARL ROBE. WILLlAM SAMUEL POINDEXTER,

